St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1887-03-21
THE CHURCH IDEA.
The Church Not Regarded as Neces.
xary to Salvation.

Sary TO SakVattOn.
Rev. NJ. D. Shutter, at the Church of the
Redeemer, took his text yesterday morning
from l. Cor. xii, -. He said:
We have slipped away from old ecclesiast-
zeal ideas. We no longer regard the church
as the only agency by which God sends His
grace. We do not regard it as essential to
salvation. There are men outside whose lives
do not become dim by comparison with In en-
inside The church is not raft upon which
men are fOated over the pillows TO the other
shore. so that whoever manages to get upon
that raft is safe, while the rest are swept
down by the waves. The church is not an
arbitrary arrangement fastened by God upon
the human conscience. 1t does not even rest
on the Bible. Churches were established
thirty years before the first page of the New
Testament was written. The foundations of
the church are laid in human nature. That
for which there is no basis in the soul appeals
in voice to external sanctions. The gates of
hell shall not prevail against that for which
there is such basis. 1t is built upon rock.
The church springs out OF the sentiment Of
worship and does more than all other agen-
cies combined to keep that sentiment alive.
An old proverb says that there are two pairs
of eyes in man; and it is requisite that the
pair which are beneath should be closed when
the pair that are above them perceive; and
when the pair that are above are closed those
which are beneath are opened The eyes
full often; it is the mission of the church to
strive to close them some times that the up
per eyes may be opened which look upon the
face of GCd.
The church educates the moral sentiments
of man as they concern himself and as they
concern his relations TO his feow-men. 1t
addresses itself TO his moral nature, his con-
science as other organizations address them
selves to his taste or his patriotism Hence
it is school-a place where those who are
imperfect but who aspire to better things may
learn the lessons that will make
them grow. No one who is hon
est whose motives are pure, WHO Sc
aims are right, is to be kept out He need not
wait until he has climbed the golden ladder
that stretches between earth and heaven.
whoever feels that the church would be Il
help to him morally and spiritually may come.
Let no one enter for social position or bust
ness advantages. He deserves the utmost
contempt who would leave his business card
upon the altar and paste his advertisement Oh
the cross.
In this school the Bible is the great text
hook, but it is not an idol or fetch to be wor-
shiped. | would as soon bow down to Juger.
naut as to book. The Bible is to be used
with discrimination. All parts of it are not
alike All parts of it are not of equal value
All parts of it are not adapted to building up
the moral manhood. We may as we'll be
honest about this and not deny it up and
down. TO place the records of old Israelitisl
battles, savage against savage, upon leVe
with the noblest psalms of David; to place
those psalms that are full of vengence ant
cursing upon level with the sermon on the
mount, is to defeat the great moral ano
spiritual purpose the book itself seeks tc
accomplish. Use those portions that purify
the moral sense, quicken the conscience anc
lift the soul upward on wings of aspiration
and love.
To the same end Christ is to be preached,
and to preach Christ is to preach the prlnci
pies He taught and the life He lived. When
He Himself closed His great discourse, il
which He laid down the positive principles o.
His kingdom, He said: He that hearett
these sayings of Mine and doeth them. viii
iken him to a wise man who built his house
upon q rock That rock is the truth O
Christ and not His person or His death.